Incident 1 - Tuesday February 11th, 1986

By this time, a body had been discovered in Kielder forest and identified as that of Raffle, a murder investigation was underway in the village of New York and rumours of gangsters were flying thick and fast as they will at such times. That evening, Frank left his home in his eldest son's yellow Morris Marina (HNL 270N) to go to St Mary's Island and Light at the beach at Whitley Bay. He took the family's two large alsatian dogs. (Frank was in the habit of taking them for exercise to remote spots at unsociable hours so that he could then allow them to run free without much likelihood of them attacking other people or dogs.)
When Frank returned some time after 10:00 pm, it was to find Mrs Ornsby-Wilkinson and the three sons distressed and apprehensive because an unidentified red Ford Orion had been parked for most of the evening either directly outside or close by. At one point it had been parked right outside the front gate, before moving to a spot across the street. No person had left the vehicle nor made any attempt to go to any other house in the street except when the youngest son had returned home earlier in the evening. Then, a man had left the Orion and had made to approach or talk to the boy, who had become alarmed and had dashed into the house. The man had made no attempt to come to the front door as would have been expected if his business had been legitimate. The Orion left the street shortly before Frank returned home with the dogs, almost as if the occupant(s) had been informed that he was on his way back.
The Ornsby-Wilkinsons had noted the registration number of the Orion and at Frank's instigation his wife phoned the police to report the incident. On the phone, the police gave the impression of being very interested and promised to send somebody round to take a statement the following day (Wednesday February 12th 1986).
Two detectives duly arrived and took statements from all the family except for Frank who had not been at home at the time. Frank asked if the registration number of the Orion had been checked and was told that the car had been sold some time before to a garage in Suffolk or Sussex and was at that moment on the garage forecourt. During the conversation that followed over a cup of tea, the police said that the car may have been sold and that the purchaser may not yet have bothered to register with Swansea as the owner. A couple of minutes later in the conversation, a third suggestion was put forward by the police: the car was most probably a ringer - three explanations from the police in thirty minutes for their inability to trace what had evidently been an unmarked police car. During the course of the visit, Frank was asked if he could shed any light on any of Raffle's business deals which might help the police to get to the bottom of the murder, Frank said that he could not help them at all.

Incident 2 - Wednesday February 12th, 1986

The two men set out on a poaching trip in a Marina car owned by Frank's son. This trip followed a meandering course across the countryside, leading ultimately to the Scottish border region. They were followed by unmarked police cars. The trip took them north on one of only two roads that lead into Scotland from the North East of England, passing Kielder Forest and crossing the border at Carter Bar.
At the trial, much was made of this trip. The interpretation placed on his driving behaviour at Kielder Forest was that Frank had intended to enter the forest in order to retrieve the murder weapon, but had been put off by the presence of a police caravan. However, it was established at the trial that the two men were aware, practically in the first minute or two of the poaching trip, that they were being followed, although they were never entirely sure by whom. (The account of this trip that emerges from the police Surveillance Log seems to bear this out.)

Incident 3 - Thursday February 13th, 1986

The following day, Thursday February 13th 1986, Frank set out with the deliberate intention of contacting at least one of his followers in order to get to the bottom of the matter. It must be borne in mind that there was a murder investigation in progress and one of Frank's friends had been killed.
He again set out in his car with Edward Wood, and they were again followed by unmarked police cars. This time, however, Frank turned the tables on his followers and ended up following them. A high-speed chase then took place through the centre of town at speeds in excess of 80 mph, with flashing lights and blaring horns. It did not end until Frank went around a traffic island against oncoming traffic and stopped in front of a police car travelling in the correct direction. This brought the police car to a stop and Frank and Eddie leapt from the Marina car, Eddie brandishing a pick-axe handle. The police car reversed around the traffic island and sped off. By the time Frank had got his car turned around, the police car had disappeared. No other police cars came to their colleagues' aid, although at least two other police cars were involved in the chase. This incident was not mentioned at the trial and neither Frank nor Eddie were arrested, questioned or confronted by the police in any way regarding this matter.(A full account of this incident can be found here.)
The day after this (i.e. Friday February 14th 1986), Frank went to the police station in North Shields to complain about being followed, and even went so far as to supply police with descriptions of the vehicles and occupants, down to vehicle registration numbers as far as he could. This was in an interview with Detective Inspector Brian Ord (one of the police officers later involved in questioning Frank and Eddie about the murder of Alan Raffle). Ord, obviously not wanting to reveal to a suspect that he was under police surveillance, lied by telling Frank that he had no idea who had been in the vehicles. In turn, Frank, obviously not wanting to reveal to the police that he had been on a poaching trip, lied to Ord concerning the route he had taken, whom he had been with and where he had been. (A full account of Frank's visit to the police can be found here.) At the trial, the prosecution made a great deal out of the fact that Frank had lied about this, though one set of lies is just as understandable as the other.
The whole assertion that the purpose of this trip had been to recover the murder weapon seems questionable. If this had indeed been the reason: